HomeWater Safety Program
Water safety programs save lives. Kids aged one to four are at most risk of drowning, which makes early education and learning to swim key in helping protect our children. This is why Kingswim offers a free water safety program for kindergarten and preschool-aged kids. The program is designed to help everyone have fun and stay safe around water and can be delivered by our team as an incursion or by your own educators.
What is water safety?
Water safety refers to all the different ways we can be safer around water, whether that’s at the beach, by a river or lake, or at the pool.
At Kingswim, we focus our water safety program around learning 5 basic (but potentially life-saving) water safety rules: be sun smart, never swim alone, check for dangers, conduct a safe rescue, and remember to shut the pool gate.
Understanding water safety rules like these is important so that we can protect ourselves and others. The earlier children learn about water safety, the better equipped they’ll be to enjoy the water safely.
Kindergarten Incursion
Kingswim’s water safety incursions are designed for kindergarten children aged two to five. Filled with fun and interactive activities, the incursion teaches essential water safe concepts and practical skills. This includes basic survival skills and rescue techniques for both the pool and the beach.
Our Kingswim team has been providing free water safety incursions at early learning centres across Melbourne for almost 20 years. We also offer a self-serve option for early learning groups not located near a Kingswim location. We’ll provide you with water safety resources so you can effectively run the program at your centre.
Want to get started with our water safety program? Fill in the form at the bottom of this page to make a booking enquiry.
Teaching preschoolers water safety awareness helps to prevent drownings and non-fatal accidents in the water. It also empowers children to better understand their environment so that they can keep themselves and others safer.
After completing the program, many preschoolers confidently share water safety messages with their parents, which is great! It means that adults (particularly those who may not have had water safety education) can benefit from learning water safety tips too. We also have online water safety information for parents and kids so that they can learn at home.
Water Safety for Preschoolers
Play-based learning is key in supporting children’s development. That’s why we teach water safety through fun and interactive activities, including a catchy water safety song and games. We also read a book about water safety, created by Kingswim for preschool children.
Through these water safety activities, we introduce children under five to important water safety rules and survival skills so that they can stay safer in different aquatic environments.
Check out our water safety music video which is included in the water safety program.
What’s included
- A water safety program crafted by an expert team who are accredited by the national body, Swim Australia
- Play-based water safety activities including rescue games and a water safety song and dance
- Water safety explained through story telling.
- Special visit from Kingsley the Platypus and photo opportunities (optional)
- Interactive learning
- Flexible delivery options
After the program, you’ll get:
- A certificate to recognise your centre’s commitment to water safety
- A certificate for each child to celebrate their participation in the program (optional)
- An activity book to work through with the children to reinforce their learning
Plus water safety goodies for every child to take home:
- A water safety activity book
- A free introductory swimming lesson
The Kingswim team has developed a 10 page activity book for you to use with your class. There are water safety quizzes, colouring sheets, and other fun worksheets for your classroom. Use these activities in your kindergarten lesson plans to familiarise kids with key concepts before the water safety program or to reinforce water safety learning afterwards.
Water safety program FAQs
We can deliver the water safety incursion at any early learning centre or kindergarten that is located within 5km of a Kingswim site. Visit our location page and enter your postcode or suburb to check if there’s a Kingswim site near you.
If your early learning group is located more than 5km from a Kingswim centre, we can arrange a self-service option with you. We’ll provide all the resources you need to deliver the program yourself.
Simply let us know if you’re located within 5km when you enquire.
The only difference between our incursion and the self-serve option is that incursions are delivered by our Kingswim team while the self-serve water safety program is run by your own early learning educators.
Whether we run an incursion at your centre or you run the program yourself, your children will benefit from the same great water safety resources and activities.
To deliver our water safety incursion, we need access to power. Our educators supply all audio-visual equipment and learning props.
Centres using our self-serve option will need to supply their own equipment and props.
The program is tailored to fit standard early learning and kindergarten classrooms. Most rooms we’ve presented in can be easily adjusted with some movement of furniture and equipment.
We understand that sometimes unexpected things happen – children and staff get sick, and plans can change. If you need to cancel or reschedule your incursion, please try to give us as much notice as possible. Simply call us on 1300 054 647, provide your booking details and advise that you need to cancel or reschedule.
Yes, all presenters have up to date Working with Children Checks.
Yes, we have Public and Products Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance with Marsh, to the value of $20M. We can provide a certificate of currency on request.
Yes, you can book our water safety incursion for your school.
The program aligns with units on Wellbeing and Community, specifically learning outcomes 1, 2 and 3 of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) for Australia:
- Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity and feel safe, secure, and supported
- Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
- Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
If you have specific EYLF outcomes that you would like covered, please let us know and we can work with you to develop this.
Our water safety awareness presentation aligns with key elements of the National Benchmarks for Swimming and Water Safety for children up to six years old. The benchmarks, established by Australian Water Safety and supported by Royal Life Saving Australia, are the desired competency standards that every Australian should have the opportunity to learn. The benchmarks provide key performance metrics that are achievable at certain ages.
The two main benchmarks that Kingswim’s water safety program covers are:
- Identify rules for safe behaviour at aquatic environments at or near the home.
- Identify people and actions to help in an emergency.
By incorporating key elements from these standards, our water safety incursion program aims to provide comprehensive and age-appropriate education to ensure the safety and well-being of young swimmers.
The water safety program for preschoolers also compliments the water safety and survival swimming education that children learn during in-pool swimming lessons.
Water safety is important for one simple reason: it can potentially save lives. It’s a tragic fact that each year in Australia there are deaths caused by drowning, with young children most at risk. Learning about water safety significantly reduces this risk and can help to prevent drownings.
Luckily, we’re never too young (or old) to learn basic water safety skills and rules that can help keep us safe. When we’re equipped with water safety knowledge and swimming skills, we can look after ourselves and others whenever we’re in or around water.
There are lots of different ways we can stay safe in and around water. Some water safety rules include:
- Never swim alone
- Supervise children at all times, keeping toddlers within arm’s reach
- Observe your environment and look around for potential dangers
- Check the weather, including any warnings, windy conditions and times for high and low tide
- Adults should avoid alcohol when spending time around the water
- Always swim between the red and yellow flags at the beach
- Know how to conduct a safe rescue and signal for help
- Enter and exit the pool safely
- Always shut the pool gate
All water safety rules are important and can help save lives. At Kingswim, our water safety program highlights 5 basic rules to help young children stay safe in and around water.
These 5 basic rules of water safety are:
- Be sun smart – wear a hat, shirt, use sunscreen and seek shade
- Never swim alone – children should be supervised by grown-ups at all times
- Check for dangers – look around for signs that may prevent accidents
- Conduct a safe rescue – call for help and act quickly if someone is in trouble, using a long stick to pull someone to safety
- Remember to shut the gate – restrict access to the pool to prevent accidents
Places are limited so enquire today to secure an incursion at a time and date that suits your early learning plan.
When you fill in the water safety program enquiry form, please confirm whether your centre is within 5km of a Kingswim site. Please note we can only deliver incursions to centres within 5km of a Kingswim site (centres outside this radius can opt for a self-serve water safety program).
One of our team members will respond to your enquiry and book your incursion in or send you our self-serve resources. We’ll also send you a confirmation email, so check your inbox a few minutes after you submit your enquiry.
